Jesusfreakhideout.com Music News, December 2009: FRANCESCA BATTISTELLI’S FIRST GRAMMY NOMINATION FOR BEST GOSPEL PERFORMANCE CLOSES OUT REMARKABLE YEAR

FRANCESCA BATTISTELLI’S FIRST GRAMMY NOMINATION FOR BEST GOSPEL PERFORMANCE CLOSES OUT REMARKABLE YEAR

Hit Single “Free To Be Me” Held No. 1 Slot for 10 Weeks in a Row

NEWS SOURCE: Word Records
December 3, 2009

(NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE) December 3, 2009—Singer-songwriter Francesca Battistelli earned her first Grammy Award nomination for Best Gospel Performance for her hit single “Free To Be Me” from her debut record, My Paper Heart. “Free To Be Me” shattered records when it became the most added song by a female artist in Christian radio history, holding the number one slot for ten consecutive weeks and becoming the first number one song from a female at AC radio since 2005. Additionally, the song was the #4 most downloaded Christian Digital track for 2009.

"I am shocked, thrilled, and honored to be nominated for a Grammy award! I started dancing in my dressing room in Boston the night I found out,” Francesca shares. “It's truly a dream come true, and it means so much that a song I wrote in college has resonated with people so deeply.”

Francesca was nominated alongside Heather Hadley with Smokie Norful, Jonny Lang, Donnie McClurkin with Karen Clark Sheard, and Third Day in the Best Gospel Performance category. The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards will be held January 31, 2010 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. A full list of Grammy nominees can be found at http://www.grammy.com.

“It’s Your Life,” Francesca’s current single, was recently featured on the series finale of TLC's Jon & Kate Plus 8 as part of a dramatic montage recapping all five seasons of the show. “It’s Your Life” is currently the #1 digital track in the Christian market, generating over 23,000 downloads this past week. The song debuted on Billboard’s Hot 100 list this week.

Francesca is currently on the road celebrating the holiday season with label mates Big Daddy Weave for Newsong’s “Very Merry Christmas Tour.” The tour is stopping in 19 cities, wrapping up on December 18 in Albany, GA. For a complete list of tour dates and cities, visit www.francescamusic.com.

For more information about Francesca Battistelli, visit http://www.francescamusic.com or http://www.wordlabelgroup.com.

A leader in the music industry for more than 50 years, Word Entertainment, a Warner/Curb company, is a unique, comprehensive entertainment company comprised of multi-faceted artist service departments including publishing, merchandising, booking, and online initiatives. Word Entertainment represents some of the top names and brands in music, including Diamond Rio, Point Of Grace, BarlowGirl, Mark Schultz, Big Daddy Weave, Group 1 Crew and Francesca Battistelli, and is home to Word Distribution, Word Print, The Breen Agency, Word Music Publishing and Word Label Group’s Word Records, Fervent Records, Myrrh Records and Squint Records.

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For more info on Francesca Battistelli, visit the JFH Artists Database.